Monday 29 April
This would be our first day walking. We all were instructed to come for breakfast at 7.30am and be ready to leave for 8.00am. I must admit that I hadn’t had a good sleep, but compared to some nights later in the week it was ok.

After packing our bags in to the back of the minibus we set off for a 90 minute drive to Imi Oughland which would be the starting point. On arrival all our support mules/donkeys (I never did find out what the difference was between the two) were there, and the bags were loaded on them. We only needed to carry our day packs with us.

The starting point was about 1,200m, and we had a slow climb up to the Tacht Pass at 2,000m over the next 2 hours. It took me about 15 minutes to get a rhythm going and I was feeling ok after that.



Views from the top of the Tacht Pass.


One of our support donkeys.

After a stop for 10 minutes at the top we started descending down in to the Azaden Valley. We had a lunch stop part way down, and actually the food was pretty good. The standard of the food prepared for us during the week whether at lunch or for dinner in the camp was always very good. Some of the other people in the group had been on Exodus trips before and they all though this one rated quite well.


Lunch stop on day 1 of the walk.


First view of what awaited us later in the week.


Some of the villages clinging to the side of the hills.

On the descent down to our camp for the first night we also passed by and through a few Berber villages. Their way of life is so radically different to anything I would be used to.

After a few hours we had descended down to around 1,900m and to where our camp would be for the first night. Apart from negotiating some tricky streams towards the end, the walk on the first day was not too hard.


I was hoping to get a good photo of someone falling in, but no one obliged.


Camp at the end of day 1. It was two to a tent, and the large white one was our dinning tent.

Before dinner we had some spare time so a few of use wandered up to the village nearby to have a look.


Nearby village.

This was my first ever experience camping, and I am not a convert. I agree some of the aspects are nice like being outside, but I didn’t like some of the things like being cold at night (which would be more of an issue later in the week) and waking up to find the tent full of condensation. Practically it is not the easiest of things to organise yourself in a very small space along with a tent buddy trying to do the same as well. I can see why friendships might become strained if you spend a long time in a tent together. Also, to go on to more delicate matters, having a pooh tent is not great. Not to get in to too much detail, but when we did camp out there was a small 1mx1m tent set up slightly away from the other tents with a small pit and stones placed around it for your use. I did use it at this camp but managed to avoid it at the high camp later in the week. I believe the term is character building?

Perhaps I am coming over a bit too negative on the camping thing. I might do it again in the future if I do another Exodus trip, but I would probably try and avoid it where I can.

Tuesday 30 April
I had a fairly restless night as I kept waking up every few hours. We had an early start on Tuesday and had to be ready for breakfast at about 7.30am. After repacking stuff, we set off for day 2 of the walking around 8.00am.

We had a change of route on this day as the original plan would be to ascend through Azib Tamsoult and the Irhouliden cascade to 3,000m and camp at this height overnight. However, our guide told us that that particular route had too much snow for the donkeys to get up. Instead we would still ascend to 3,000m but then to the village of Aremd where we would spend a night in a gite there.

The climb up to 3,000m was pretty unrelenting and made tougher by the sun beating down on us all morning. The good weather we had that week was both an advantage and a disadvantage. I am glad we weren’t doing this in the summer though as it really would be energy sapping then. This was my first experience of the altitude effect as well, albeit fairly mild at this height. I felt I was having to work harder than normal to make the ascent towards the top.


Views part way up the climb.


Stop near the top of the climb for day 2.

After making it to the top of the pass we stopped for a very well earned break. We then descended the path down the other side heading towards Aremd. The path was quite tricky as it was just loose small rocks. We also stopped for lunch part way down.


First view of Aremd in the middle of the photo.


Closer view. Our gite was in the buildings on the left side set apart from the village.

The gite was actually fairly comfortable. It was four of us to a room. They had showers and toilets, although the showers were a bit temperamental. We had a really good evening meal and some of the group had a walk in to Aremd to have a look around – although I decided to stay back.


View at night back up to the mountains from the gite. Toubkal is just visible on the left.

Wednesday 1 May
Another early morning with breakfast at 7.30am for an 8.00am start. We set off from the gite and were heading for base camp at 3,000m so a fairly hefty ascent of 1,200m needed today. The path we followed is the main route up to Toubkal so it was fairly busy with other walkers and donkeys.


Stop part way along the ascent.


There were several path side drinks stalls along the way as well, and we stopped at two of them.


Close to base camp.

After about 4 hours we made it to base camp and had lunch. We were camped close to two refuges which we all used at various points either to get more bottled water or to use their facilities.


Refuges at 3,000m, the tents in front were for another group.

A few of us headed up to the refuges to have a look around, and have a cold drink sat out on the terrace. Neither of the refuges were particularly good, but the facilities on offer were obviously better than using the ones at our camp.


Relaxing at the refuge.

Before long the clouds started rolling up the valley towards our camp and the refuges, so we headed back to camp around 6.00pm.


View down the valley from the refuge, our tents are the green and white ones past the wall.

With the sun gone in the evening it started to get very cold, probably down to just less than freezing overnight. I needed to put on a few layers on top of my pyjamas in the sleeping bag to keep warm. We were also told we needed to be up at 5.30am next day for breakfast at 6.00am and set off for the summit by 6.30am.

After dinner we got handed a pair of crampons each as we might need to use them for our summit day tomorrow. Hopefully the cloud that had rolled in during the evening wouldn’t last.